( laughter ) why's the new guy sending me emails from paris ? paris, france ? verizon's 4g lte devices are global-ready. plus, global data for just $25. only from verizon. this morning, my question. with a record number of women running, who is going to make sure that they win those races? plus, the jedi mind trick of the gop. much to learn you still have. and pulled over by the word police and trying to talk my way out of a ticket. but, first, a prae to the battleground state voters, please pay attention. the rest of us are counting on you. good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry before we begin, we want to congratulate congressman barney frank and jim ready who

got married last night. governor patrick duval officiated and asked if they promised to love each other on sickness and in health, on msnbc and fox, as long as they both shall live. congressman frank the first sitting member of congress to enter into a same-sex marriage. but now onto our top political story. when most of us think of the map of our country, we picture this. 48 states, all smooshed together with two more hovering in the pacific. but if you're one of the two americans currently running to be president of all the states on that map, right now, you're not really thinking much about the vast majority of them, because only four months out from election date, your version of the u.s. map looks a lot like this. this is a map of the battleground states in the presidential election and if you didn't see your state highlighted on that map, hate to break it to you, because your vote is not going to matter much in determining the outcome of the election. the candidates already know by election day, you will be a sure bet and you'll give up your electoral votes in the election

they can already predict if you're a state in yellow, congratulations of course. you're the girl everyone wants to take to prom. instead of of a fancy limo, your guy showing up in a big old bus with a taylor made campaign message, just for you. that's how president obama spent thursday and friday of this week, road tripping across the rust belt to convince the perennial purple states of ohio and pennsylvania to wear a blue dress to the big dance come november. he's singing a song he wrote just for you, goes a little something like this. >> when some were saying let's let detroit go bankrupt, i said let's bet on the american worker. let's stop giving tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, let's give them to companies that are investing right here in the united states of america. >> music to the ears of the white working class voter who's comprised more than half of the electorate in states like ohio and whose approval can be given to anyone who rent the the spot

at 1600 pennsylvania avenue for four years. mitt romney, hoping he would like to tiebreak that election in his own direction, made advances on battleground territory last month and hopped on board. that's right, a bus, for a five-state tour through smalltown usa, putting aside the new fangled high tech approaches by wreak of reaching out to voters with the original social media. the telephone and even moran shent, face-t ancient, face-to-face conversations. workers spent on the day working the phones and going door to door. neither barack obama or mitt romney is a cheap date. they have blitz the air waves with more than $20 million in political ads in ohio al lone. pay attention, battleground states, these guys are pulling out all the stops, just for you. so this is where i play the uncle ben to your spider-man and

remind you with great power comes great responsibility. like it or not, you are the chosen ones. and the choosers. you are picking the president for the rest of us. so that means you don't have the luxury of political apathy. we, those of us who live in the all too predictable ballot box behavior states, counting on you to get it right. first of all, don't be fooled by the optics that are meant to signal the candidates understand the lives of so-called ordinary people. you know, like buss with folksy tour names. rich guys pretending they ride the bus is not a signal that they understand your lives. neither is rolling up their cleaves or leaving their neck ties at home or eating pancakes or drinking a beer. you know how politicians show you they can relate to your lives? creating policies that make your lives better. pay attention to what they say to you, not just what they are showing you. and numbers like these, totally unacceptable from a pew poll

showed 45% of americans are completely clueless about the supreme court's landmark decision on affordable care act. listen, if it's your vote that determines whether or not the rest of us get health care, swing states, i need to you do a little better and finally, please, don't let the constant reminders that are you in a battleground state fool you into believing that you are in an actual battle. leave the fighting and delination of differences to the two men vying to be the last man standing at the capital steps on inauguration day. whatever the name and colors in your neighborhood may say, you and the person next door to you are more alike than are you different. we are all in in boat together, and are you our captain, so show us what democracy in action really looks like, and if you need an example, try turning to one of our most famous fictional small town americans, sheriff andy taylor, whose creator, andy griffith, we lost this past week. in a recent recall for the

"all," shawnee hilton relaid her father's take on america's finest. i never looked at andy as being too good for the others. i looked at him being a stabilizer, a good soul who wanted to elevate those around him. in this election it will be all of you good souls to lift up all of the rest of us. joining me now, barbara lee of california. former pennsylvania governor and political analyst ed rendell. anthea butler of the university of pennsylvania and msnbc contributor, ari melber. thank you to everyone for being here. >> thank you. >> we've got two pennsylvania swing staters here. you all are living in the battleground. i just made a claim that i need the battleground folks to take that job seriously. do they? when you look at voters in pennsylvania, do you feel like folks are aware of how important their vote is and taking it seriously? >> yes, i do. a lot of them are worried,

because some of them won't be able to vote because of the change in the voter i.d. laws, and i believe a recent survey in philadelphia that may mean 44% of african-americans, that is very troubling this is part of the base that would want to come out for president obama, so i think in pennsylvania, we take it very seriously. he was already in pittsburgh the past couple of days, and i think we'll see a lot of the president and we'll probably see a lot of mitt romney as well trying to pull those votes, although i would think maybe the places that mitt romney will go will be very different than the places that president obama will go. >> governor, walk me through pennsylvania a little bit. a map of pennsylvania, i want to look at it a little bit. actually, i'm sorry. i don't have a map of pennsylvania. you know pennsylvania in your head. walk me through it a bit. what are the parts of the state that are likely to get the most attention from these candidates? >> before i do that, i want to emphasize what you just said. a recent study by the secretary of state showed 9. 2% of our

electorate doesn't have our photo i.d. that's shocking. we're doing all we can to get those people photo i.d. we're doing all i can, but the law is brutal. this is going to insure mitt romney becomes president, which reveals the motivation behind this. it's terrible. >> not about voter fraud, but about changing the outcome. >> never voter fraud as my eight years as governor and we had two very contentious presidential elections. pennsylvania comes down to two parts of the state. two battlegrounds if you talk about battleground, one, the philadelphia suburbs, where democrats have been winning the last five presidential elections. we used to lose the philadelphia area big. win philadelphia bigger, but the philadelphia suburbs was the key battleground. in the last five elections, democrats have made inroads, and the last three, we carried philadelphia suburbs. they used to be heavy republican

registration. still republican overall, not nearly as heavy. the old mitt romney would have been a great candidate in the philadelphia suburbs. >> governor mitt romney, massachusetts. >> has he gone so far to the right, that he lost a chance to get mod rails republicans and independents in the philly suburbs. go to the 12 southwestern pennsylvania county, traditionally democrat. white working class. when president obama carried to pennsylvania by 11 points, he lost 11 of those 12 counties. now, he's got to do better there, because his margin in the philadelphia suburbs are going down. he's got the ammunition, infrastructure, manufacturing, auto bailout. things th s that should be musi the ears of voters. >> we talked about optics and information. here are the items that ought to be music to the ears. when you think about the actual strategy here, it let me show you something or is it let me tell you something. >> i think u.s. a lot of telling, and i think you saw

that in some of the first sort of documentary style videos that the campaign put out. remember what it was like. look at the trend lines, yes, we're stuck right now at 8.2% unemployment. but it was a lot higher, and we did do these bailouts that worked, even if you heard otherwise. and you had up on the screen, the pew poll shows that 45% of the country doesn't know what happened and what is one of the biggest supreme court cases literally since the new deal. so, yes. >> just -- >> right. >> we can pause and not speak, because it leaves you speechless. what does that mean? it means somewhere along the lined meta is breaking down, i would argue certain social ways information is shared is breaking down. the most interesting part of the pew poll is the next number which is out of just the universe of people who know correctly what the supreme court did, a majority now supports the decision. part of that is getting the information out to the universe. >> congressman, i want to bring

you in as soon as we come back from the break. the other piece is the pressing of the flesh, the old-fashioned phone banking, and it feels no one knows better, that kind of thing, than people who are members of congress how important that is, so we'll talk more about that, and also the fact that the battle lines divide in some interesting ways when you throw race, ethnicity, language, into the equation, later, how come running for office is still so hard for women and next hour, the gop playing jedi mind tricks on all of us? don't go away. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back

or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. what's in your wallet? hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too.

cleaning better doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna...use these. ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] unlike mops, swiffer can maneuver into tight spaces and its wet mopping cloths can clean better in half the time. mom? ♪ ahhhh! ahhhh! no it's mommy! [ female announcer ] swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back. ♪ or your money back. thsave on sleep train's train's 4tmost popular mattress sets. plus, pay no interest for 36 months on tempur-pedic and icomfort. sleep train's 4th of july sale ends sunday. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

presidential battlegrounds

are divided not bust by the lines of battleground states, but also by demographics. those ajennas are being set by the national council of la razia's annual conference and the naacp annual convention in houston. both kicked off yesterday. vice president joe biden will be doing double duty this week and the white house is dispatching him to deliver addresses at both conferences. he'll be joined at the naacp by mitt romney, addressing the group on wednesday. president obama declined invitations from both. but will be polishing up his african-american bonifide at the african-american conference later this week. i want to turn to you, congresswoman barbara lee, we can look at the battleground state polls by nbc and see that the president is doing really quite well in the battleground states right now. if we look at just in general, at a 50% to 42%. in ohio, the president is up 47%

to 38%. in pennsylvania, which we were just speaking of, up 45% to 39%. but those numbers are still about spending. the president way outspent. feels like battlegrounds are about shaking hands, face to face, pressing the flesh, knocking on doors. your campaign had a huge margin of win, in part because you engaged in exactly that activity. >> absolutely, melissa, and people still want to see their candidates. they want to shake hands, hear a voice on the phone. and they naturally are going to be very responsive to social media that's the era in which we live. but people still want to know their candidates, the personal touch in california in my campaign, i insist on it. we go door to door, phone bank, do social media, e-mail, text, tweet, we also, you know, go to rallies, meet people. >> i'm officially a little annoyed at this point by the

text messages. i feel like i don't want to have dinner. i don't want any of that. i really want to hear directly how the policies from the campaigns are going to impact me as a voter. even with a level of enthusiasm for the candidates. on this question of race, it also feels like -- congressional black caucus, you are the con sense of the congress you often hear. nobody knows better than cbc that sometimes you represent a geographic constituency and sometimes yrepresent an identit. even if you are a representative of california, you will be worried about what's happening in detroit or new orleans because of concerns around race. how will the president and his challengers, mitt romney, be able to speak to that battleground line? >> very important, melissa the kongsal black caucus for over 40 years now has historically had

an agenda to speak to those who have been marginalized and shut out. the african-american community, but also poor community. community of color. the working poor. people in appalachia. people who haver in had a voice in congress. the congressional black caucus has filled that void and that need. so it's important for candidates to talk about our national agenda, as an american agenda. but also the unfinished business of america. and much of that unfinished business has to do with income inequality and racial inequality and we cannot let that be swept under the rug. >> what will romney say to the naacp on wednesday? >> i can't wait. i think his message has to be two fold. he has to figure out a way to connect with the african-american community and i'm not sure he is hitting on all of those. i can imagine hitting on the african-american mormon community. he has to do something about the

economy, first of all, and secondarily, where is his terms in place of poverty, inequal fooe, racial injustice. >> come on, if anybody -- look -- even if he came with like i have changed my mind, and i am all policies now will be made solely for the interest of african-american voters, don't you think people would be like, that's nice. have you met barack obama? it feels maybe braves or maybe nuts that he's going to the naacp. >> he remembers what happen when president bush didn't go. remember? he knows he has to go, even though it's symbolic. something he can use for a sound bite, to prove, look, i went, did i what you all asked me to do, and even if you don't want me, oh well. >> jump in. >> two things, number one, democrats are constantly being pressured to go out way far away from their base. you should speak to business, speak to the chamber, do all of

these things and it's assumed in the beltway culture that's required and they should spend the time winning over the other side's base. the idea that mitt romney would show up at the one of the most historical black institutions in america, even though voting patterns don't favor him, that shouldn't surprise anyone. and george bush made a mistake not going. number two, beyond economic policies which we know don't seem designed to help people in lower income brackets if you're a median household income. the romney economic plan for many obvious reasons will probably not help you and that's not going to change. other things mitt romney could do if he cared. i am looking to see whether he goes there and actually addresses the fact that the republican party increasingly appeals to a nativist and race baiting dialog. if he says donald trump is only his friend because of gop politics and money, which is okay. they all go after money, then we need to hear him enunciate a

break with the birtherism about racism. there are things ki say regardless of economic policy that would be welcomes. >> a very good point. >> the reason that a republican has to go to the naacp is not to win black votes, it's for the philadelphia suburban voters. has to seem like he's not a divider, that he will be a unifier, et cetera. not talking to the african-american constituency, we are talking to undecided independents and moderates. >> americans have a value against being racist. >> we want a unified country. >> don't want to be racist, part of a party that seems to race bait. >> and he's also got to talk about how the bush economic policies would not be repeated under under his watch. >> i don't know if he is going to be able to say that. >> when we come back, an impending alien invasion and ufo sightings and what they tell you

about the future president. i swear, we really are trivia question. which of the nine states considered to be battleground state does barack obama carry in 2008? back after the break.

50i6r7b8g9sds ♪ how are things on the west coast? ♪ ♪ i hear you... ♪ rocky mountain high ♪ rocky, rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ all my exes live in texas ♪ ♪ born on the bayou [ female announcer ] the perfect song for everywhere can be downloaded almost anywhere. ♪ i'm back, back in the new york groove ♪

[ male announcer ] the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. rethink possible. before the break, i asked which one of nine states considered battleground states did barack obama carry in 2008? the answer is a good one. all of them. romney is gaining polls, and the battleground state bol polls. one poll that explains better than any other what's happening is the one about the coming alien invasion, not another immigration segment. i'm talking about the big one,ly real outer space aliens, according to a recent survey by the national geographic channel, 65% believe president obama is better equipped than mitt romney to handle an alien invasion of earth.

maybe that's about who most closely resembles alien conqueror will smith, we can't be sure. this poll is a problem for republicans, battleground state after battleground state. republicans are trying something new. voter i.d. laws that make the election less about wh voters want and more about which voters get to vote. so, sure, the public claims that these voter i.d. laws are all about protecting us from voter fraud, but in pennsylvania last week, state representative mike turzai let the cat out of the bag. >> voter i.d. in pennsylvania, done. >> turzai. i can't believe he just said that. he said voter i.d. laws are winning elections, indeed they are in pennsylvania. >> the great thing, that served produced by affidavits in the court case that challenges it. >> to jump in, since the

governor decided we're not continuing on that statement. here is the thing about it, in 2007 when the supreme court looked that law from indiana, one of the things they said, just because it's a party line vote, only republicans doing it, doesn't mean it's inappropriate. what you need for a constitutional challenge to succeed, is evidence that the goal was election geared. >> the question is whether it's dispirate it matters from housing policy to voting policy to education policy if dispirate impact could still stand as a supreme court decision, and it's not clear in this court you can make a disparate impact argument. ith very clear this will impact some community more than others. >> absolutely and also in the same judicial findings in the supreme court case, there were no findings of voter fraud in indiana on the record. so even the court that upheld it said there was none of that, and

what they would need, the bar they would need is someone going out and saying i passed this law only to elect my guy. this gets pretty close to exactly what the conservative supreme court said was unacceptable. >> he is an elected republican leader. >> that was 34, 35 states with these terrible laws on the books that will really des isenfranch millions of people. senior citizens, young people, people of color. what we have to be concerned about this is a stifling democracy. going all around the world. promoting democracy and in our own country, we're trying to stop it. it's very dangerous. >> why couldn't that be a bipartisan point in battleground states. if you want to beat the president, that's fine. beat him on ideas, outspend him, do all of that, but you got to let everybody cast their vote. >> exactly. >> congress nan is exactly right and give the governor in

michigan some credit. he vetoed it. he is a good republican, wants mitt romney to win, but he did the right thing and we should speak out when republicans speak out on right thing. >> on that veto, that was the kind of bipartisan support for the sort of question of democracy. >> can i say something? today is my aunt's birthday. she died a few months ago. she would have been 101 today. >> wow. >> i -- she lived in arizona. when i was trying to figure out how in the world would she vote. does she have a birth certificate? does they have a money to buy for it, pay for something? that's just an example of the terrible kinds of disenfranchisement. >> "the philadelphia enquirer" front page, a woman who was 91 who voted in every one of the 70 elections at the same polling place. she won't be able to vote. her friends took her to the motor vehicle place to get the new identification, she had to

have a marriage license and a birth certificate. but they were both in her maiden name, so they disqualified her and said get a lawyer and change -- >> that is ridiculous. it's like a new poll tax that they are trying to do. we had gerrymandering, redistricting, everything else. and i cannot understand, what happened in 2010 when we should have paid attention to this. the democratic party slept on this. this is the time to be fighting this two years ago when this started with the tea party things and everything else. so this is my disappointment, is that people were not paying attention to this, and now it's going to play an important part in this election, and i don't want to do that hanging chad thing again. >> eric holder, had some jurisdiction in the preclearance areas, but don't have jurisdiction of other parts of the country, and even if he brings challenges, are you looking at a judiciary that could end up with the cases and end up rolling back the 1965

voting rights act instead of protecting it. >> that's the problem. we have a collective fantasy in this country that we're this chining democracy, always have been, always will be. that's not true. i'm a lawyer, when you go to law school, you find every 15, 20 years, we fight over who gets the vote. those are all the big fights. for women, african-americans, people under 21, sent off to die for our policies. some of the most important amendments to the constitution is about expanding the franchise. it's a mistake to look at it as partisan. we've seen a polarization on the issue because democrats have finally, as you say, woken up after sleeping, but it's not only about getting even with republicans, right? >> no. it's about the growth and health of the -- >> what democrats have to do beyond organizing in this election there, say big national hub, got to vote.org it takes

you to your state, gives you actional information about what you need to bring to the polls, and, in fact, it can be helpful. >> i saw your blog, and show up, vote. and others are like the list is this long, daunting. coming up, we've been talking a bit about voting, we'll talk about the record number of women running for congress this year, and they are going to need your vote. what makes women candidates unique? that's up next. juicy brats grilled up on a thursday. the perfect use of the 7th inning stretch. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal. let'"that looks hard"oject from to "that didn't take long". let's break out behr ultra... ...the number one selling paint and primer in one,

now with stain blocker. each coat works three times harder, priming, covering, and blocking stains. let's go where no paint has gone before, and end up some place beautiful. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. behr ultra. now with advanced stain blocking, only at the home depot, and only $31.98 a gallon. experience theticket to pressure-relieving comfort of tempur-pedic, and sleep risk-free with sleep train's 100-day money back guarantee. get 36 months interest-free financing: no down, and no interest for 3 years. plus, get free same-day delivery. sleep train's 100-day money back guarantee, interest-free financing, and free delivery? that's the ticket! sleep train's ticket to tempur-pedic ends sunday.

♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! put it on my spark card! [ high-pitched ] nice doin' business with you! [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? unfortunately, our country has a pretty poor track record on electing women to political office and recently, it has been getting worse. not better. this year, when women have become the subject of campaign issues, many of us are looking around for women to run as the

object of political office, because since 2010, the number of women in congress has dropped to 17%. and the number of women in the state legislatures has declined by nearly 80 seats. that was the first to decline of the women in office in 30 years if women make up 51% of the population and 56% of all voters, why do we have such an imbalance in congress? 11,699 people have served in the house and senate since the first congress. of these, 213, less than 2% have been women. and 47 of those women were elected and appointed to fulfill congressional vacancies created by the deaths of their husbands. in today's congress, women hold 90 of the 535 seats. 17 of the 100 seats in the senate and 73 of the 435 seats in the house of representatives. of those women in congress, only 24 are women of color and there are still four states that have

never, never had a woman serving in their congressional delegation. what is up with that, delaware, iowa, mississippi, and vermont? it doesn't look so good for the so-called leaders of the free world. that's because the united states ranks as 78th in the world in terms of women's national legislative representation. that's barely edging out turkmenistan. but this could all be about to change. in 2012, it could be the year of the female politician. redistricting has created an opening for new female politicians and voting patterns tend to boost women's candidates chances for winning this could be good news for nine women running for open senate seats and six women defending theirs and in the house, 67 female politicians running as incumbents along with 47 congressional newcomers. we don't know if all of those women will get a seat at the congressional table, we do know this is a year to set a record

for the number of women who can actually end up in the u.s. house of representatives. they have been filing 295 women who have filed so far this year, beating the all-time record of 262. so i'm hoping that number keeps rising. up next, one woman who found herself the victim of worst kind of politicking this week. tammy duckworth and the swings and arrows of a woman running for congress. the trivia question, who was the first woman elected to congress? the answer coming up.

i don't spend money on gasoline.

i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. tammy duckworth and the swings last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪ some women don't get mad, they get elected. tammy duckworth, lieutenant colonel of the national guard and iraq war veteran, who lost both of their legs when an insurgent shot down her helicopter in combat is doing just that, running as a

democratic candidate in illinois. on her background in the military and as department of veterans affairs. her challengers, illinois tea party republican kangman joe watc walsh, best known for not paying child support thinks she shouldn't run on her experience. >> know about john mccain, his supporter has to day after day, say, senator, you have to let people know you served. you have to talk about what you did. that's what is so noble about our heroes. i'm running against a woman, my god, that's all she talks about. >> walsh since says he believes that duckworth is a here york he told cnn this about the remarks. >> this wasn't a slipup. i don't regret anything i said.

>> hmm, seems like someone is a little bit threatened. not easy being a white guy running for office. back with me, barbara lee, former governor ed rendell and joining me at the table is stephan stephanie sclriock. and in phoenix arizona is krysten sinema, a democrat running for u.s. congress. i'll come to you in just one moment, ms. sinema. i want to let you answer our trivia question from earlier who was the first woman elected to u.s. congress? >> as a proud montanian, i can say it's jeanette rankin, and it's really important to note, she was elected before women across the country had the right to vote, montana sent their first congresswoman. >> astounding. >> pretty astonishing she made the choice to run.

speaking of the choice to run, ms. sinema, so fascinated by your race in arizona, in part because just -- just your level of qualifications between law school and a ph.d. and having served in the statehouse, it's almost feels to me you are overqualified for u.s. congress. talk to me about your race. >> well, you know, it's a really interesting race. a brand new district in arizona. the ninth district. and it's a district that really represents the heart of arizona. evenly split between democrats, independents and republicans and a district where the majority of voters are women. so we feel like it's a great representation of what our state truly is, not what you see on tv with jan brewer, what our state really looks like and a great opportunity to pick up for seats for democrats, and as i hope, a seat for a pro choice democratic woman. >> on the one hand, we have

krysten sinema, her work on sb 1070, resisting that, a lot of what people know about her. but in the state there is a woman who holds executive office, there is jan brewer in the state. how does an organize like emily's list balance that idea of sort of policies and positions that are good for women on the one hand and simply electing more women to office. >> well, emily's list is completely focused on electing great women like kristen, who we are so proud to support. hello, krysten. >> hi, stephanie. >> we support pro choice democratic women, because we really believe those democratic women when they get into congress, senate, legislatures, they will move policies forward that drive a progressive agenda for our families and our community and we just disagree with the republican party right now. they have been waging this war on women for the last two years now. we have got to make sure that

every woman in this country knows what the republican party and their policies stand for, and it's a really critical issue. >> was there a time when democratic and republican women sort of thought of themselves, we're women here in the house, have ideological differences, partisan differences, but we'll come together on policies around family and reproductive rights. >> sure. we have a women's caucus in the house and that is the guiding principal principle, to try to find common issues on those we can find common ground on. i am pro choice, as are most democratic women. we don't address that, but we address other issues such as health care, nutrition, such as the wic program, issues we can come together on. let me just say. i remember shirley chism.

got me involved in politics, insisted i register to vote. the first african-american woman to run for presidency. first african-american woman elected to congress. >> and although she lost, folks may not know this, some of the choices she made in terms of how delegates were apportioned, some of the push lays the ground work for president obama. >> lays the ground work for reverend jesse jackson to run and also for president obama, so we have this progressive african-american woman in the early '70s, come to congress, where she really told me, early on, says, look, women have got to get into the system, not to go along to get along, but to shake things up. these rules weren't made for us or by us and we have a duty and responsibility to run for office to change the world and change the country and i think women can do that. >> i want to ask a little bit -- we started by talking about the attacks on tammy duckworth,

which, you know, were not gendered attacks per se, attacks on her identity as a veteran and obviously the sacrifices she's made. there did seem to be something almost icky about the fact that this woman and veteran was being challenged in her very identity as a hero is there something running for office as a woman that leads to a certain kind of vulnerability in the actual campaign process for you? >> well, you know, what's interesting, arizona, voters actually prefer women generally over men. but you can certainly see the difference of being a woman on the campaign trail. your male counterparts can say things and be hhave in ways tha women just can't behave. we run the risk of she's to tough or not nice enough. and men can say what they want to say and attack you and it's difficult for a woman to find the balance of how to stick up

for yourself and the people you represent while also making sure that you are not going to take too much flach from your opponents. >> when we come back, i want to talk about the structural issues about the way that emily's list addresses the structural ways we address the issue and we'll talk about how democratic party men and women can support women running for office and who is to blame for keeping women's representation so low? we have an answer, i swear, after the break. and why i think the gop is playing a jedi mind trick. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye.

cleaning better, doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm going to... drink this... on the porch! ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] mops can be a hassle, but swiffer wetjet's spray cleaner and absorbent pads can clean better in half the time so you don't miss a thing. swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back. and for dry messes big and small try swiffer sweeper vac.

>>. >> why is it still so few women in power? you look at the percentages. >> men. >> it's us? >> that was former secretary of state madeleine albright at this year's women in the world

summit. getting straight to the point with charlie rose. back with me, congresswoman barbara lee, ed rendell, anthea butler and stephanie schriock, and in phoenix, arizona, krysten sinema, democratic candidate for congress. on the break, talking about the structural issues of getting women to run and one is about recruitment, just being asked to run, you are smart, capable, have 18 degrees, and you should run and data show us men look in the mirror, ready to run and women need more. what can both organizations like emily's list but also the parties themselves to do to make sure we get more kryst ens in te world. >> emily's list has been around 27 years, and then, not a single democratic woman had won a seat

in her own right this is not that long ago, in our lifetime we're talking about these firsts. organizes like emily's list which have focused so hard on making sure women are stepping up and running. precisely why we're seeing the numbers in 2012. it doesn't happen overnight. we've been worked with some of the women since they have in politics. tammy baldwin in wisconsin, shelly berkeley, and emily's list were with them when they were in the legislature. just keep pushing and prodding them along and asking them to run, we have to ask women to run. >> and emily is not for a person. it stands for early money is like yeast. that when you provide some early resources, it allows folks to grow. if you got to get into the state

legislature level, what should parties be doing? democratic party in illinois or in pennsylvania, what should those party leaders be up to? >> they should have a very aggressive recruitment program where they go into schools. some teachers make great candidates. they have fire in the belly. go into the law firms and say, hey, it's not so bad running for office, number one. it's important. only way to make changes. somebody showed me clips -- not clips, cufflinks that hillary gave him with the 18 million cracks in the ceiling. be part of that. i think it would be so exciting, and one of the points stephanie made from a male perspective, someone who cares about policy, more women in the legislature, state legislature or congress, need more interest in children's health. in early childhood education. things not only good for women, but good for all of us. >> ms. sinema, talk to me.

we don't have a lot of time, but i want to make sure folks have a clear sense that yes, you are a woman who is running, but what are top issues for you? >> number one issue in arizona, probably similar to around the country, is jobs. and governor rendell is right, not a women's issue or men's issue. it's about families, people need jobs and in arizona, we're focused on getting people back on their feet, get jobs and keep their homes. and prepare their kids for the future. >> and the very last word, congresswoman lee, how do we make sure there are more krysten's in the world. >> thank god for emily's list. with this horrible decision of citizens united and the super pac money and the corporate money, all the money that's not diss d disclosed this is a problem. we have to really help women at the grass loots level with smaller donations and really

help them raise money. that's a big problem. finally, democrats taking back the house, women speaker, greatest speaker ever, nancy pelosi, elections have consequences, we would have a woman who would share the science and technology committee, a woman who would share appropriations economcomm. i could go on and on and on. women will be in power. >> after this year of all of this vaginal talk if we want to put women at the center, democratic win in the house. thank you, stephanie. thank you to kristen and the rest are back for more. for from anthea butler. coming up, mitt romney may be taking to us a galaxy far, far away, where not everything he's doing makes sense, the gop is making us use a jedi mind trick. i'm not going to let you all be fooled.

it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged.

welcome back. okay. you may be wondering what in the world i am doing with a darth vader mask and light sabers, but as yoda might say, guess not or learn not. i'm not one to second guess another person's decisions. sorry, the light sabers are making a lot of noise. but maybe just this once at times it's difficult to reconcile who mitt romney is what republicans want in a candidate, as though they are trying to perform a jedi mind trick on voters like onni wan kenobi. >> let me see your identification. >> you don't need to see his identification. >> we don't need to see his identification. >> these aren't the droids are you looking for. >> these aren't the droids are

you looking for. >> he can go about his business. >> he can go about his business. >> move along. >> move along, move along. >> with a wave of the collective jedi hand, the gop makes voters think what they found problematic in mitt romney is not a problem at all. here are the jed imind tricks they couldn't get past us, trick, number one, we, the republicans hate the individual manda mandate, therefore, we're going to nominate a former governor who passed individual health care reform as an individual mandate. and we, the republicans feel that president obama is an out of touchy let'sist who doesn't understand the pain of the american people so we'll nominate this guy who looked to put an elevator in one of the garages of one of his homes. and we will nominate a guy whose money lives in countries well

beyond the u.s. woborders. maybe voters will decide to overlook the fact that presumptive mitt romney may not match the qualities they say they want in a leader. barbara lee, former pennsylvania governor and nbc political analyst ed rendell, and anthea butler and ari melber join us. this is our theory. they have nominated this guy that is all this thing they claim they don't want. let's start with an individual mandate. how is this debate going to happen between president obama and governor romney? at a certain point, they will say i don't like individual mandates. how is that possible? >> i want to tell you how. this problem is deeper than mitt romney's lack of a core. we let mitt romney and the

republicans off the hook when we imply this is a problem of one man. the entire republican leadership was tooil advancing an individual mandate in 93-94 in the hart act which over 20 senators said they wanted. the cosponsorship is the limit, the lower limit of support. the hart act had a mandate. it had 24 reopinion i had cans, and financial penalties if you didn't buy insurance. call it what you want. >> this is melissa harris-perry show, we do real talk here. real talk is both those bills supported by the majority of the republican senate caucus had this kind of talk. >> this ch is how mitt romney passes in massachusetts. >> the whole party is confused on it, the whole party has a bad record. they like blaming mitt romney.

the reason why a lot of health experts and people across the spectrum supported the mandate. >> republican thinktank was made in the first proponent of it. i went as governor went wh president bush was president, i thought there was no chance for national health insurance and massachusetts was moving in the right direction, we went up and spent about a day with mitt romney and his people there about two hours, very proud about the mandate and told us what was important to make the overall scheme work if we give health insurance to people with preexisting conditions, we have to widen the pool. >> there is no other way, otherwise it's a moral hazard. the cost of insurance goes up, and the fact is, we're all paying anyway. >> exactly. we're all paying anyway. the real mind trick, i want you to forget my history. >> i was never governor of massachusetts. >> and then he tries to go --

the next is to flip-flop about everything he's done. so he has to put himself as this other person. he wants to change this history, and he can't go back. he's having this tension about it. i think this is the problem that republicans will have, if they try to play med jedi mind tricks. too much sound bites. maybe in space you don't have a recording or dvd or youtube, but i think these jedi mind tricks will backfire. what i really want to know who is running the death star? >> we are coming to this, we have a whole set of theories about who the rest of the jedi masters are, folks should stick around for that. i want to ask you this is there anything reasonable about saying, well, what happens in a state shouldn't happen at the national level? you make federal policy, but undoubt ted until communication with local folks, governor, you were as the leader of pennsylvania, are there things you say, oh, okay.

this isn't a jedi mind trick. reasonable to say some things should happen at the federal level. >> certainly some things should happen at the state and local level, many of our educational effort happen at the state and local level chbl but co. but come on, health care, this is a national policy, first of all. it has been in the past a national disaster, so this revisionist history, exactly what it is, really is an attempt to just not tell the truth to the american people and also when you look at the rhetoric of what the republicans are saying, and mitt romney, when you look at their reality, much of what they have done, people will see this is disingenuous, wrong, people deserve health care, the benefit of health care reform will help republicans, democrats, independents, everyone. >> the people of massachusetts seem to also actually like it, right? i mean, both before and after. >> and i'm sure people in our own country, the polls have shown, that people who have

benefited already from health care reform, they like it. >> and that's the other thing on the national point to the congresswoman's point, president reagan signed the emergency medical treatment act that is a moral piece of legislation that says we will not deny people health care. it's a federal law. president reagan signed it. there is your darth vai der. the republicans said who is my father? >> who is my father? >> yes. i am your father. oh, my god. if they took up the mask and it was reagan. >> you take it off and there is ronald reagan and he goes i am super conservative. what my son calls, a conservative. even ronald reagan was for a federal national approach, get health care in the e.r. we don't let you die on the table because you are poor. >> there are differences in a state, even on health care, by

the way, the health care states, and, for example, pennsylvania and florida are older states. have you a sicker population, and a lot of that sicker population is on medicaid, not medicare in a western state it may be a little different. >> states with lots of cities and congress traited versus more rural states. >> sure. >> the room for -- for individual approaches. and the good thing is, the affordable health care act does just that. it will be interesting, we're all talking about whether the republican governors will take the medicaid money and seven of them who haven't, uit's a disgrace. first three years, 100% federal, would help their people. after that, 10% state. what we pay normally for medicaid. 40% to 50% per state this is almost free money. not to take it to benefit the

people is a disgrace. >> just so they can be political. >> and the most interesting thing for me, what are they going to do about the -- they have the right to not run their own exchanges, to say obama care is terrible. let the feds -- if there has to be an exchange, let the federal government run the exchanges. how many states do you think will divest that to the federal government sr. >> actually invite the federal government in. coming up, we'll ask more about how the romney camp deals with the whole elitism thing. the other jedi mind trick. later this hour, word police are after me and i'll tell you why. so let's make our dryers do the ironing. have our fridges cater our parties. and tell our ranges to whip up dinner. let's plug in to summer savings before they're gone... ...without wasting an ounce of energy with smart machines that turn housework into house play. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, save $600 on this maytag french door refrigerator,

just $1,598. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios ...but you still have to go to the gym. juicy brats grilled up on a thursday. the perfect use of the 7th inning stretch.

get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal. that's 3 moves, 5 jobs, 2 newborns. it's no wonder i'm getting gray. but kate still looks like...kate. [ female announcer ] with nice'n easy, all they see is you -- in one step, nice'n easy with colorblend technology, is proven to give more blends of tones. for color that's perfectly true to you. [ rob ] i don't know all her secrets but i do know kate's more beautiful now, than the day i married her. [ female announcer ] with the dimensional color of nice'n easy, all they see is you. [ female announcer ] thsave on sleep train's train's 4tmost popular mattress sets. plus, pay no interest for 36 months on tempur-pedic and icomfort. sleep train's 4th of july sale ends sunday. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

i'm delighted to be aebl to take a vacation with my family. all americans appreciate the memories they have with their children and grandchildren. i hope that more americans are able to take vacations.

>> i'm sure more americans wish they could take vacations, but many are unable to do that, because they simply can't afford it. how can mitt romney, running to take back the country for those people relate to those who are trying to simply make ends meet when he's worth an estimated 0 $250 million possibly more. i can't wait to see if that jedi mind trick that republicans used will work on the folks at this table. on the table, barbara lee, ed rendell, anthea butler and arry melber. we have the person that is to be the pop list to bring america back. sunday styles. the styles section of "the new york times" is about the $3 million hampton weekend in terms of fund-raising. now, look, it takes money to run for president. but you do get the sense on on the one hand, rolling up your sleeves in the battleground

states. other hand, party in the hamptons, is this a jedi mind trick that someone who is elite be mr. let's have a beer -- well, not have a beer with mitt romney. >> he hopes the regular working class mind folks don't find out about the weekend in the hamptons, or they look at it as oh, he has to raise money. he has to put a spin on it. he doesn't look like the guy that would go in the yard with you and work on the car. i don't think he ever pushed a lawn mower. he doesn't look like that guy. no matter what mind tricks he does, he has problems looking like a regular person. i don't see him taking shots in pennsylvania someplace like hillary clinton. >> he won't take shots, he's mormon. >> and he can't eat a burger in front of somebody, do these regular things? even when talk about vacation, not like jumping in the car and putting seamus on top. jet skiing, at this big house,

got all the family, a very big chas imhe has to cross. i don't know how he does it unless he puts on a costume. >> mccain did it in part by bringing in sarah palin, the joe the plumber version of working class white voters. does he need a palin or someone that can perform that working class version for him? >> well, i personally don't think so. i think people really understand, first of all, there is a growing income inequality. the gap between the rich and the poor is growing. secondly, ceo compensation is enormous, in that's growing. thirdly, mitt romney supports offshoring of jobs. clearly he does not understand what it takes to invest in our infrastructure and our health care sectors and energy and in manufacturing and auto industry

for the average working american and so i don't think people, regardless of who he brings on as his vp candidate, i think they really understand he's about going back to the bush era economic policies, which benefit the wealthy, and he believes that we should give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. >> let me ask if i'm being unfair. it's possible a president could be himself from the elite and yet be a great president for the populous, so fdr, of course, is the classic example of this. is this an unfair position? >> i think it is a little bit unfair. the congresswoman it's a great thing, not the personal background. some of the presidents who have done the most for poor people, look what fdr put in place to protect poor and old people in america. fdr was about as elite as you can get. he didn't vacation on coney island. >> that's right. >> so the policy is more important than the person.

so ordinary people we had the first serious african-american candidate to run for mayor, was charlie basel. he would say to black audiences, he would say don't ask me how many blacks i will have in my government. he said, you don't care if the person is green if they do the job to make your neighborhood safer and cleaner, and that's what the average american cares about. >> i think that's true. >> i think the money problem is this. if people at home feel they've heard this message and don't like rich politicians, well, the median household is about 75,000. the average of u.s. senator's net worth is $13 million. we have talked about that on msnbc before. if you think this is a problem this is not a mitt romney problem. to finish, both parties, because of the system we have, we are electing richer and richer people, so we have to look extra

hard at policies, fix the infrastructure campaign finance as well. if you don't like mitt romney for this, you have a whole problem with the whole senate and barack obama is much wealthier than most people it helps him focus on jobs and spending. >> i love the fact that president obama paid off his student loans basically moments before taking his u.s. senate seat, in part because certainly he's a rich guy, no one is claiming that barack and michelle obama are not wealthy people, but a sense of that -- just a couple of years ago, we were still paying off our student loans, versus the sense of kind of disconnection and i just wonder if there is a -- particularly given this tea party pop lymph that did say, not so much i don't like the rich person, and you're shaking your head no? >> when i was dnc chair in 2000, i can't tell you how many events i went to in the hamptons. barack obama dominated in the

hamptons. barack obama raised money on wall street. still raising money on wall street. in 2008, he broke all sorts of records. look, it's the policies. >> but that's the problem. that is the problem. >> and, you know, to quote jay-z on sunday. >> do it. >> if money talks, the whole world is going to hear me out, okay? money talks too much in our system. and the candidates who have social and mitt kalcall politic money do better. barack obama came from a different set of roots, so did michael bloomberg. if we go out and say, and i disagree. i have to side with the governor here. if we go out and the problem is you have all of this money, that's a problem with the entire political elite culture. >> rich men and women, no problem, but policies are the question. >> mitt romney doesn't have policy is the problem. no policy. i can see it, that he's not an fdr. >> not an fdr. not even reagan. >> he's a marshmallow.

not articulate at anything. until he can say policies, he will just be the rich guy. this is the problem. the only thing he has right now is to say, okay, you all can be like me, if you can pull yourselves up by your boot straps, but people can't do it that way anymore. >> if he's going to be the rich guy, coming yup, we'll ask who s playing chewbacca. other important questions as we assess the romney plan next. who has the jedi circle? toothpaste is the wrong thing to use on a denture, it could be very abrasive. if the surface gets abraded, it's just the environment that bacteria likes to nestle into and they can cause the odor. your denture needs to be cleaned gently on a daily basis. i like to recommend polident, it kills the bacteria without causing any abrasion. when my patients follow my instructions, their dentures feel clean and fresh. they look forward to putting them in their mouth and smiling.

o0 c1 according to ford, the works fuel saver package could literally pay for itself. jim twitchel is this true? yes it's true. how is this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil, your car runs more efficiently, saves gas. you could be doing this right now? yes i could, mike. i'm slowing you down? yes you are. my bad. the works fuel saver pkage. just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. so, to sum up, you take care of that, you take care of these, you save a bunch of this. that works. to my campaign manager, david plouffe. the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign i think in the history of the united states of america. >> that was a pretty

unbelievable moment. he thanked his campaign manager. president elect barack obama thanking david plouffe. his jedi master. who is mitt romney's jedi master. back with me, ed rendell, anthea butler, erri melber and barbara lee. we have dubbed him chew baca every time he speaks it's like -- >> he even looks a little like him. >> all right, all right, all right. >> that's tough. >> who do you think is r2-d2 and c-3po? this week on the bus together. >> bobby jindal. and tim pawlenty.

that's right. >> who is r2-d2. >> r2-d2 and c-3po, come off robotic and somehow cute. i love this one. marco rubio, we decided would be a good match with -- >> that's tough. >> lendell calr ciniski. >> nice to everybody, good looking. but he might abandon you at a crucial moment. >> might sell you out. >> if he stabbed you in the back, it's only because he had to. i'm dealing with the emperor, man. >> we had a good time with this one. we decided that beth meyer reminded us a lot of no guess. the loyal servant, right?

he speaks quietly but gets the job done. >> that's good. >> this segment might do well on the internet, because you're getting into the weeds. >> down there. now we -- governor is looking at me like what is happening on television? >> you taught at princeton? >> i did. >> now i am convinced -- >> oh, no. >> ouch! >> that said, we did think that anne romney was playing a princess leia role. >> needs to be rescued. no wallflower either. they are trying to kill my husband. >> not with me standing here. >> any guesses for hans solo, the importance of hans solo? >> that's tough.

maybe eric cantor? >> no, no, no, no. >> we thought actually chris christie fits this role, in parts because hans solo is a loyal friend, but also a bit of a rapscallion. >> he might shoot at you too. >> don't catch him on the boardwalk. >> he's pretty direct. >> that's right. >> make a nomination. >> you know, we're always trying to figure out who is behind the curtain. and if you go to the emperor of this republican party, it's still roger ales. he is back there. >> who is the emperor? >> behind the curtain, like the wizard of oz. he controls and there is nothing to him. >> i think they both get a nod. roger ales, the death star,

controlling the whole thing. >> this has been fun. >> and as we go out, when we come back, we'll talk about the word police and what happened to me this week, but should also see a picture of what happens in nerdland when we start playing with light sabers, yep, those are my producers, we'll be back, after the break. [ male announcer ] fighting pepperoni heartburn and pepperoni breath? fight both fast with new tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start.

our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spot on the gulf... and come on down. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. until i show them this. the new oral-b pro-health clinical brush. its pro-flex sides adjust to teeth and gums for a better clean. the new pro-health clinical brush from oral-b.

pulitzer prize winner david marinist tells a story of barack obama, telling a story of a high school aged barack obama about what people should fear most. maraniss said words. words are the power to be feared most, directed personally or internationally, words could be weapons of destruction. indeed. so too can words be powerful

when they inspire, motivate. words like tear down this wall can help defeat an empire. words like hope and change can lead to health care transformati transformation. words like mission accomplished can embarrass a nation and words like are you now or have you ever been, can cripple institutions and industries. words like we hold these truths to be self-evident can spark a revolution and words like we the people can empower the individual, even though words like never worked a day in her life can stir a national frenzy and words like uncomfortable can unleash a torrent of backlash and happy white people's independence day can set off a cable chatter. a seemingly never 24 hour of cycle of shampoo, rinse and repeat as needed. now it's my business on cable

tv. particularly here on "melissa harris-perry, " we're all about words and try to be as careful as we can to select the words which we offer to you behind those words are ideas, ideas we use this this form, the incredible opportunity we hope to discuss in this smart, provocative and silly ways. last week on this program, three days ahead of independence days, i choose my words to reflect on this nation that i love dearly, words that spoke to our nation's history that spoke despite our exceptionalism to the mistakes of the past and our undeniable building blocks in our identity of the presence and our future. i spoke of atrocities specific to america and the fact that despite those very undeniable realities, that this nation about to celebrate the anniversary of her independence remains the world's great promise. out came the word police with their franken bite selected experts of what i had to say. out came their condemnation of

any criticism of the nation so close to the day commemorating our founding, a founding based on the very principle on the right to criticize. word police, holster your weapons, pocket your badges this is not a revolution. it's just television. just talking with our words. just as those who came before us fought and died so we could. still at the table with me, democratic congresswoman barbara lee of california, former pennsylvania governor ed rendell and anthonia butler, religious studies pennsylvania at u penn and ari melber. we have been played with the word police idea in part, because chris rock on 4th of july tweeted one of the things i just talked about. happy white people's independence day. now, he's a comedian, right? so he's being funny, but there was a sense both in that and criticism i took from another network about what i said about

independence day that some things are just offlimits, are you not allowed to say certain kinds of things. have we gone too far? are we word policing too much? >> yes and nuance is lost. and it seems to be on days like the 4th of july, everybody wants to whitewash and i use that word specifically, the history of this nation, and this is a complicated history. you can't say the framers were great without talking about thomas jefferson owning slaves. you cannot talk about the greatness of the nation without talking about the foibles of the nation and troubles of the nation. that doesn't mean are you less of a patriotic person. it just means that on days like this, the word police want to tell you what to do because emotions run high. it's plate call thing, we've lost a sense of nuance, a rewrite in history would say slaves were okay, they were being treated well. that's where i get very angry

and i have to call out these people and say i think you're wrong and this about is about freedom of speech, and the other side gets upset because people call them up, it's quid pro quo, we need to be able to say things without having to feel everyone is trying to censor. >> i disagree with part of this. i agree with the point, but disagree this is new. with the idea of how we process our anniversaries, you know, some of that comes from different cultural goals. a lot of people feel in certain cultures if you're in a funeral, you only talk about the good things and that's respect and that's the day for that respect and very little else is tolerated. other people have wakes and tell stories and talk about people's foibles. there are different cultural baselines to how we celebrate our wonderful birthday, this amazing country that does this amazing thing and also isn't perfect. all of our politics is about the

notion that america is not perfect. people feel so strongly about what they want to change. on the history, though, i brought just a quote from toqueville. >> what a nerdland thing to do. please read it. >> when the talented staff explained what we were going to talk about. >> i know of no country where there is so little independence of mind and freedom of discussion than american. we raise formidable barriers about opinion. within these barriers, an author m write what he pleases. we have one of the most robust protections of freedom of speech anywhere in history. we defend the rights of nazis to speak, other countries don't do that but we deplore what we do not like and not only say don't say that, we'll say that's out

of bounds, never say that. what happens to chris rock or when people get on the wrong side of that, the majority comes in and says we cannot debate. and that's a problem within our history. >> and, yet, i want to be able to say some things do feel like they have gone a step too far. on the one hand, i have anxiety about the word police, the idea of limiting, but then i hear alan west. i want to maybe hear what he said and present a different side of this. >> he who does not want you to have self-esteem, of getting up and earning and having that title of america, he would rather be a slave than economically independent. >> alan west, speaking of president obama he would rather you be his slave, on the one hand, yes, freedom of speech, but, whoa, wait a minute, slave is a word that designates a

specific relationship and nothing to do with free voters who chose a president. >> as despicable as some of these comments, people have the right of free speech. congressman alan west raises money off his ridiculous statements, he actually called and i co-chaired the progressive caucus with lynn white housely for four years, he called the progressive caucus, a group of communists. he -- he takes us on in big ways, but then in another four or five hours, he's raised a million and a half dollars. it's important in that context to understand why some people say what they say. we have to protection the right to free speech, we need to have balance, as there is a lot of hate speech, that can lead to violence, we have to really calibrate that and make sure that the first amendment rights are protected but that people aren't harmed by much of the speech. finally, also let me say, the

unfinished business of america, of course, race still has to be swept out from under the rug we have to have a full discourse on race a race. >> your point about west is very interesting. i want to talk about dog whistles and gas and our cultural misunderstanding when we come back and more on how some people living in the u.s., there apparently is not a guaranteed freedom of speech when we come back.

this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. we're back talking about the affect of policing our words on tv and our daily lives. we are back with anthea butler,

ari melber, ed rendell and barbara lee. media coverage of politics itself, and the new cycle about the -- are the surrogates for the campaigns off message, whether the democratic surrogates, are they off message? the message isn't what is the message good or bad, but are the surrogates off message? this idea that utter answances themselves news. does that take away of what we should be talking about in the political world? >> we make a huge mistake. campaigns make a mistake to demand 100% of the message. i'm not a surrogate because i work for nbc. even when i was chairman, i looked upon my role as talking to the people who have yet to make up their mind. and if i say the other side is all devils and demonize the other side and we're all angels, never make a mistake, they will

tune me out. i want to say, and you see this with what president clinton says, mitt rom nooi is a substantial guy. a very successful business person. that's not the rub against mitt romney. let's focus on these things. the obama folks, you know, absolutely go nuts when we say anything that -- other than mitt romney is the devil incarnate. they are crazy, you have to have -- >> governor, we actually have a call for you from chicago. >> i never actually heard them call him the devil incarnate. but i understand what you are saying. >> i said -- i forget exactly what i said. is pennsylvania in the bag for president obama? of course not. it's far too early, the margin is still relatively slim. they went nuts, and i said take a deep breath. think about it, you don't want us saying pennsylvania is in the bag. >> right, right. because you want people to come

out. >> absolutely. you mentioned the idea of alan west using provocative statements as a way to raise money. politicians use words that are kind of supposed to go over the boundary a little bit to get free media coverage or to dog whistle to other community. >> whose fault is that? it's ours. >> you mean the media. >> yeah, we give these stupid statements all the time. >> can we use the biggest one of all. death panels, when sarah palin said death panels, that consumed air waves and everybody locked into that one word and it drove the health care debate and made it go into the ditch. dog whistles become very important. when you say state's rights or other kinds of things, are you whistling to this particular kind of constituency, and that becomes troublesome, but also the little thing about the obama campaign, i remember corey

booker saying which is fascinating. i missed this piece. i had a list of things to talk about my talking points, and i was like, my, god, you actually said that. you aren't supposed to say that. i'm not a surrogate, but you're not no supposed to say that? >> isn't the other line power. if somebody doesn't matter much, the right-wing radio host s ts business is to generate attention to themselves. the saying is don't feed the trolls. >> i was so excited -- i don't read press about the show, so somebody sent me an e-mail and was like bill o'reily and gretchen carlson were beating up on you on fox, and i was like, yes, yes! could they do it every thursday? if grechen and bill every thursday would just like call me the liberal left wingnut job, that would be -- >> i knew you before you had a tv show, and i know what you

care about and what you have devoted your life's work to. it's not generating the response. i also know you are a real person in the real world and you know when bill o'reily attacks you in the media cycle that is good for the show, even though that's not what you set out to do. the other side is congressman west, and i would love to get your reaction, because you guys are colleagues, but congressman west is not a right-wing radio show host and he's not selling a media product. so he speaks with the authority of the voter who's chose him. in the media, we have an obligation to deal with that. he's not just making a business. >> i think what happens, though, with elected officials and politicians is, yes, they are going to say what they want to say. some will, to try to raise money, to try to position themselves to win an election, but what disturbs me is that the media will look for sound bites and, and sensationalism around

the story alan west, maybe they have not told the full story. i believe in speaking truth and the media and politicians should he educate the public about the pros and cons, what -- they make informed decisions and driven by scare tactics are sensational. let's listen to the information from weekends with alex witt. >> an historic week weatherwise with heat and drought across the country. how bad has it been? we'll break it down by the numbers, some of this will blow you away. mitt romney will give a speech to the naacp convention this week. one of the leaders of the naacp about expectations for the speech. and tomorrow, a court fight over voting rights in texas. it puts the voting rights act of 1965 to the toughest test. plus, the story of olympic

proportions, one woman's tough fight to make it to the london games of 2012. i'll talk to her about gold medal dreams and how she got them. back to you. >> thanks, alex. don't go away, coming up is the professor, melissa harris-perry and nerdland producer's summer reading list. it's about time we made our homes work for us. so let's make our dryers do the ironing. have our fridges cater our parties. and tell our ranges to whip up dinner. let's plug in to summer savings before they're gone... ...without wasting an ounce of energy with smart machines that turn housework into house play. more saving. more doing.

that's the power of the home depot. right now, save $600 on this maytag french door refrigerator, just $1,598. you know that comes with a private island? really? no. it comes with a hat. see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline, anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow! [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's ok. i've played a pilot before.

. >> kevin smith's advice from a tough, lazy slob.

need more inspiration. for fun, we are reading sadie jones' the uninvited guest, not tell you which one of us is addicted to the young adult deliriodel deliridel delirium series. when maurice sendak passed away, we made an argument for fiction. the young pig with a magical harmonic ka, the life-affirming, it's okay to be different are all nerd land faves. then lloyd alexander's the first two lives of lucas kasha, a book

that one producer remarked, it made me believe storytelling is the world's greatest profession. books change lives, read one today go to our blog at mhp show.com and give us your summer reading suggestions. that is our show today. thank you to congresswoman barbara lee, governor ed rendell and leah butler for sticking around. thanks for watching. see you next saturday, 10 a.m. eastern. coming up next, "weekends with alex witt." e is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is.

i don't want to just eat plants.